You Won't Guess Who Has The Most World Eating Records, And What Foods They Are (It's Not Joey Chestnut)

Joey Chestnut broke the Hooters World Chicken Wing Eating record on Wednesday, which doesn’t really mean a lot, except that he ate a ton-load of chicken wings at Hooters. I think we can all say the same.

But what it does mean more precisely is that he added another Major League Eating title to his record, which now stands at 31.

This Hooters wing record thing is little more than a promotion for the restaurant, in that Hooters is planning a special on that food on Tuesday. But damn that was a lot of wings — Chestnut ate 182 of ‘em in 10 minutes. He already held the Buffalo chicken wing eating record of 7.61 lbs in 12 minutes, set in 2012. (PETA does not approve).

Chestnut of course is the guy who’s won the Famous Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest eight years running. But his claim as World’s Greatest Eater is dubious, because there’s a guy out there with more MLE titles than him.

Patrick Bertoletti holds 37 official Major League Eating crowns, the most of any MLE competitor. There are other eating leagues out there, and of course there are some independents such as Takeru Kobayashi. But none come close to Bertoletti.